KC and I took one of my former students out yesterday for her first time climbing. We saw a bobcat on the way in. We were in the lot around 7:40am. We talked to a group of 8 from SLO in the parking lot. They were headed up to do Costanoan. We traded contact info with the leader of the group. Sasha rolled in right at 8:00 and we geared up and headed out. The agenda for the day was The Big Bad West, The Lamb, Corona and Chockstone Dome. I started by leading BBW to show her how protection works and she followed with me belaying above. After the climb I tossed a single strand of the rope and showed Sasha how to set up and get started on a rappel with KC on fireman's belay below. KC did a quick follow to warm up and we walked off and headed over to The Lamb. I soloed up and set up the belay at The Wolf's top bolt. Sasha climbed and rapped followed by a quick KC ascent and a walkoff. Off we went to Corona. I led and set up the TR on my web-o-lette so Sasha and KC could climb on TR. I cleaned on the way down. Sasha took right to the slab and within seconds of starting had stepped through, high stepped and mantled - all with no instruction. She is a natural climber. A group of 4 climber's were surveying the climbs from the approach trail, so I encouraged them to come up and join in. I offered a little solicited advice on pro for Beyond Destiny seeing that one of the group - Sean(sp?) was enticed by the promise of free booty. I was planning to lead and clean the route if no one was around. We had spotted a long runner and a leaver biner on it a few weeks ago. No worries - I've collected my fair share of booty lately. I also let them know that Corona would be free within minutes. Sasha finished her run to the anchor in fine form and KC ran a lap, set the rap, came down and we pulled the rope. Off to Chockstone. It was starting to warm up and we were delighted to find a patch of shade below the Regular Route. KC led the route in half shade, followed by Sasha on a bight and me last. I quickly set the rap - dragging the rope down slowly so as to avoid the PO in the base slot and put on the fireman's belay for Sasha. KC body blocked the PO for the rope pull and we switched chockstones to Walk the Plank. I led followed by Sasha on a bight and KC on drag. A quick summit pic and we were done. Sasha was pretty cooked for the day - in more ways than one. I would have been glad to throw her Overboard but there was no more gas in her tank. While we were wrapping up, we observed two hikers off trail. As they neared Chockstone they proceeded to knock some sizable boulders down. Some folks down on the trail yelled up that a young boy was nearly hit. The folks on the trail initially thought it was us knocking down rocks while climbing or rapping and I let them know that it was hikers off trail. I also asked the hikers off trail what happened and they said they slipped and it was an accident. Does anyone think I should I send an email to the park service? We scrambled off and stopped in the breezy "cave" shade below for a snack, water and cool down before heading out. We stopped briefly to talk to the foursome from Destiny Wall - they were bouldering in the shade under the arch. We also talked to several groups of hikers and I plugged Brad's book to one guy who asked about the climbing areas.
I did a quick free solo lap on BBW on the way out. We saw the SLO group in the parking lot and they had a successful day. It was 98 on the car thermometer at around 2:30 when we left. It actually did not feel that hot while we were out climbing. We were in the shade most of the time and there was a nice breeze. Happy trails!
Sasha does her first rap down Big Bad West
Sasha showing good form on Corona
